Quick start

First realtime message in six lines in a development environment; production adds one server route.

1. Create a project

Sign in with your email and create a project. ByoTalk creates two environments, development and production, each with its own environment ID (env_...) and secret key. The dashboard's Quick start page shows these snippets with your real environment ID filled in, and the Playground lets two test users chat in the browser without code.

2. Install

npm i byotalk

One package, subpath exports: byotalk (browser, React Native, Node 22+), byotalk/react-native, byotalk/server and the npx byotalk CLI.

3. Connect and send (development)

Development environments accept dev tokens, so you can start without a backend.

import { Chat } from "byotalk";

const chat = new Chat({ env: "env_dev_2f8k", token: Chat.devToken("alice") });
await chat.connect();
const dm = await chat.conversations.direct("bob");
dm.on("message.new", (m) => console.log(m.senderId, m.text));
await dm.send({ text: "Hello Bob" });

Users are created on first connect. Development uses Managed storage, so there is nothing to configure.

4. Production

Dev tokens are always disabled in production. Add a token route to your existing backend with byotalk/server; it signs tokens locally with your secret key.

// server
import { ChatServer } from "byotalk/server";
const chatServer = new ChatServer({ secretKey: process.env.BYOTALK_SECRET_KEY! });

app.get("/chat-token", requireLogin, async (req, res) => {
  await chatServer.users.upsert({ id: req.user.id, name: req.user.name, imageUrl: req.user.avatarUrl });
  res.json({ token: chatServer.createToken(req.user.id, { expiresIn: "1h" }) });
});

// client
const chat = new Chat({
  env: "env_2f8k",
  token: () => fetch("/chat-token").then((r) => r.json()).then((d) => d.token),
});

A function token is called again before the token expires.

5. Choose storage

Managed: messages stay in our database, encrypted. Nothing to set up.
Your own database: PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB or an HTTP endpoint becomes the permanent record. See Bring your own database.
Media: connect Cloudinary, an S3-compatible bucket or Azure Blob. See Media storage.